Light My Pyre
by TheHeadInCharge
Summary: The novelization of one of the final three missions in "Vice City Stories".


Light My Pyre

Light My Pyre

Author's note: I don't own anything related to Grand Theft Auto. Rockstar Games does.

Right when Vic walked out of the door to the Hyman Stadium when the Phil Collins concert ended, he received a message on his pager from Louise:

"I think it's time we go on a real date."

He figured that she would go to Lance's place, so he left and was on his way.

Back at Mary Jo's apartment, Louise was getting ready to leave. "Hey, Mary Jo, would you mind watching Mary Beth? I am about to go out with Vic. I won't be back until later."

Right when she opened the door, some thugs were right at the door and one of them punched her in the face. Then, Armando Mendez walked in. "Come on, lady. We're going for a ride."

"Fuck you!" yelled Louise.

"Feisty, aren't you? Seems like Senor Vance can't help you now." Sneered Armando. "Get her in the car, vaminos."

"Hey, what are you doing?" asked Mary Jo.

"Should we take her tambien, senor?" asked one the thugs.

"No, she wouldn't say anything. Besides, I want you to let the Vance brothers know that she will die unless they do what I say." Said Armando.

Right when the cars rolled off, Mary Jo couldn't wait to call Vic, so she grabbed Mary Beth and put her in the baby seat inside the Perennial and she drove off to Lance's place.

Meanwhile, Vic went inside the house to see if Louise was there.

"Louise?"

"Hey Vic." Said Lance, who was sitting on the couch.

"Hey. Hey, where's Louise?" asked Vic.

"I don't know. Shit, if that bitch ripped us off, I'll rip her head off!"

"Hey, she's clean, unlike you."

"No, she is a drug addict. I'm just having fun. There is a difference." Said Lance.

As they talked, Mary Jo pulled up and ran right into the house. She was so frantic that she couldn't think. "Vic! Vic, they got Louise! They had me too. It was awful. Sweaty and hot. Nobody laid a finger on me, but they got Louise!"

Vic, surprised at the situation, "Who's got Louise?"

"They got her, and they said they'll kill her if you don't do what they want?"

"Who?!" asked Vic.

"Armando Mendez. Oh, he wanted me too. I could see it in his eyes. Those Latino men always like the voluptuous woman. I nearly got taken!"

Vic got his Equalizer gun, his MP5, and some grenades. He was ready to take him down. "Alright Lance, let's finish this."

Lance, not seeming so sympathetic, "Why? She's a train wreck. Let him have her."

Vic, not wanting to wait another minute. "What, are you serious?"

"Yeah, move on. Plenty more fishes in the sea, baby."

Vic just about had it with Lance right there. "You, get moving or I'll shoot you first!"

Lance, reluctantly agrees, "All right, all right. I'm coming. Don't worry about it!"

They were walking out the door and Mary Jo just felt that she had to tell that she really was almost taken away.

They were in the garage and Vice wanted to get going as soon as possible.

"Come on, move it, Lance!"

"Man, we're wasting our time. The bitch is dead already."

Right when they were about to get in Lance's Infernus, they saw a Sentinel with a couple of Mendez's thugs standing there. One was holding an RPG.

"Armando's got two things to say: One, get out of Vice and the girl lives. And two…", he blasts the Infernus.

"MY CAAAAAARRRRRRRRRR!" yelled Lance.

Lance, pissed off, hopped onto the bike that he took from the biker gang.

Vic, upset at all of this, including Lance just storming off like that, had to think fast. Suddenly, he saw a couple getting off of a PCJ-600 that was parked right by a palm tree. He could not wait any longer.

"Hey, sir. Let me borrow your bike?"

"No way, get your own." Said the guy.

Vic pulled out his Equalizer. "GIVE IT TO ME NOW!"

"Okay! Okay! Here's the key. Sorry, I need it right now."

Vic went at high speed to catch up to Mendez's thugs, who were trying to catch up to Lance, who was rolling down Ocean Beach.

Vic saw that some of them were ready to shoot Lance.

"There he is! Kill him now!" yelled one of thugs.

Vic pointed his MP5 directly at the area where the gas line is. He laid a few shots onto it and suddenly the car exploded.

Vic caught up to Lance. "Lance, what the fuck are you doing?!"

Lance turned his attention to Vic for a little bit. "I'm going to tear Mendez apart. No one does that to my wheels!"

Vic then saw another Sentinel parked on the side of the road across from the Ocean Beach Hotel. He got out a grenade and took a look to see if the sunroof was open and it was and then bit off the pin and tossed it inside and the thugs saw the grenade fall right in and were shocked and then the car went up in flames.

As they got closer to Club Malibu, another Sentinel was parked on the side. One of the passengers saw both Vic and Lance. "Hey, they're together. What should we do?"

Another thug responded from the front passenger seat. "You get the one in the dark blue. I get the one in the light blue."

Vic saw that one thug was popping out from the sunroof and another from the left passenger side. He pulled his Equalizer and shot the two right in the head and blood just squirted right out of them. The sunroof guy leaned to the side and fell right in and disrupted the drivers' driving which caused him to lose control and then car just hit a palm tree which caused the car to tip over and then flip upside down.

"Whew! That was close." Thought Vic. Him and Lance were getting closer to Prawn Island and at that point, they stopped for a quick moment. "Bro, I have to do this alone."

"Lance, you don't know what you're getting yourself into.

"I believe I know what I'm doing. Besides, I got my M4 Carbine. They won't stand a chance."

Lance stormed off and Vic didn't know what to say. He did only what he could do.

Lance got to Prawn Island and stopped in front of the yellow mansion and faced the Mendez Mansion. "It's time for some Vance Vengeance, baby!"

Armando was standing on the porch with two thugs by his sides. "Do not let them in!"

Lance rolled right in on his bike.

"Barricade the doors. Kill them!" demanded Armando.

Lance pulled out his out M4. "You're mine, motherfucker!"

Armando demanded, "Kill this idiot!"

Lance shot the two thugs dead and chased Armando right into the house.

Armando ran right in and gave signals to his soldiers to kill Lance. But were met with the bullets of his M4.

"Come back here, you motherfucker! I'm not finished with you!" yelled Lance as he followed Armando right into his office where Louise was sitting on a chair held at gunpoint by Armando.

"Any closer, and she is dead." Said Armando as he held a 9mm pistol to her head. "I am impressed by you and your brother. I don't know how to describe you two. Stupid or brave? Or is one brave and the other stupid? I'm not really sure. Maybe both things can be said about both of you."

"Who are you calling stupid?", asked Lance, holding up his rifle.

"No, no, no." said Armando, shaking his head with an evil smile on his face and clicking the hammer to the pistol. "You know, I am assuming that your brother is going try to play hero, but you know something, this is no movie. He is going to die, like you" points gun to Louise, "and her."

Lance was ready to pull the trigger but then a thug comes up from behind and hits him in the back of the head. Lance fell to the ground, knocked out cold.

"Gracias, senor." Said Armando. Then he looked outside the window and saw Vic roll up near the Sentinel he used to barricade the gateway into the yard.

"Mendez! I'm coming for you!" yelled out Vic.

"Shit! I knew that this was going to happen. Senor, go out there and help the others." Said Mendez. He pulled out his pistol and pointed it at Louise. "Too bad your precious Victor isn't going to save you."

Louise was really scared at that point, "Please, don't kill me."

"Sorry, but I have no choice." Said Armando, and shot Louise twice at her stomach and she fell to the floor in a lot of pain. "Seems like Victor is going to die a much worse death." He went towards his gun closet and picked up his flamethrower.

Meanwhile, Vic hid behind the brick wall. He loaded his MP5 with a new clip and put in some extra bullets in his Equalizer. Vic jumped over the Sentinel and saw a thug on the porch start to shoot but got shot in the head by the Equalizer. Right after that, many thugs kept coming out from behind palm trees. They started to fire but Vic hid right by steps. He picked up the AK-47 and shot the thug from the other end of the porch.

Vic started heading towards the back and sensed that a couple of thugs were hiding on the ground below. Vic reached inside of his jacket for a grenade, broke the pin off, and threw it over the railing and blew them up right there. He jumped right over the railing and saw a backdoor that goes into the basement of the mansion.

While Vic was heading towards the door, the same thug who knocked out Lance from before came up from behind and tried to shoot him in the back of the head execution style, but then Vic grabbed him by the arm and threw him to the ground. Vic picked up the gun and tossed it in the opposite direction, and started pounding the living daylights out of the thug. "Where is Mendez?" he asked.

"What good will that do for you?" asked the thug.

"Maybe this." He put his Equalizer right onto the thug's forehead.

"Inside, senor. But don't say I didn't warn you, amigo."

"Okay, I won't.", Vic then pulled the trigger which then sprayed blood all over his suit and his face.

Right when Vic was about to enter the basement, another thug with an AK pops out but Vic then turned around and shot him right to the chest, which caused him to fall forward into the pool and the water started to turn red.

Vic walked in, calling out Lance's name and Louise's name to see if they can hear him, but then Armando walks out with the flamethrower in his hands.

"You think you're hero enough to bring back the dead?"

"Where are they Armando?" said Vic, with a murderous scowl on his face.

"They're upstairs resting… in peace." Said Armando. "Would you like to join them?"

"If you've hurt them…" said Vic, only to be interrupted by Armando.

"Senor, I assure you, they didn't feel a thing. Unfortunately, the same will not be said of you."

"Oh, shit!" thought Vic, who then saw more of Mendez's thugs pop out from the walls. "Oh, fuck!"

Vic shot 3 thugs with his Equalizer and noticed that he had only bullet left and realized that he had left his MP5 at the steps. While Vic was hiding, another thug approached him but then Vic hit him in the face with his Equalizer and threw him in the direction of Armando, then starting shooting flames out and his own soldier alive.

Armando now knew where Vic was. "There's no turning back, Vance. Give it up and die slowly."

Vic's last hope was the only bullet left. He looked right at the tank of the flamethrower and thought to himself "It's now or never!"

"Hey, Armando!" yelled Vic and Armando looked directly at him. "Say goodnight!"

Vic was sitting on the ground and the laser pointer was aimed directly at the tank and Vic pulled the trigger without hesitation. The bullet pierced a hole into the tank, which then emitted flames and got Armando's white suit on fire.

Armando started to scream in pain. "I'M BUUUUUUUURRRRRRRNNNNNIIIIINNNNNNGGGGGGGGGG!!" He then fell to the ground and Vic stood over it and watched Armando Mendez burn to his death. He then ran upstairs to the office.

He saw Lance and Louise both lying on the ground. "Louise!"

Louise, trying to fight the pain, "Hey… Vic. You… came for me. No one… ever… really did much for me… before. That's… sweet of you."

"Hey, hey, come on. Let's get you to a hospital." Said Vic.

"I don't think… there's much point in that." Said Louise, knowing that she was about to die.

"Come on, Louise." Said Vic, feeling that she could pull through.

"We… could have had… something… special." Said Louise.

Vic started to agree, but he then thought differently, "Yeah. No, we DID have something special."

"Make sure Mary Jo takes care of my baby.", Louise said, right before she died.

Vic, still kneeling beside her, was saddened by this. He couldn't think straight. He may have said they had something special, but deep down, he really wishes that he spent more time with her than trying to make money, in a business that he never wanted to join.

Lance started to regain consciousness, but Vic was mainly focused on Louise.

"Vic, I know you cared about her, but she wasn't right for you. Vic, family's what matters."

Vic still didn't listen to him. He couldn't pay attention to anything because Louise's death was the only thing on his mind. Lance started to walk, but he limped a little. Even he saw that Vic couldn't think straight.


End file.
